[Lucky161]

On his quest to win 20 features this year, Joey Saldana won his 19th with two races to go. Sam Hafertepe Jr was second followed by Steve Kinser.

***** section. This will be longer, unfortunately. Only 18 cars and 4-5 of them weren't WoO regulars. Those included Eric Baldiccini, Tony Bruce Jr. Fred Rahmer and Jason Johnson. And I won't say they were uncompetitve, because they were all fast, but they finished in or near the back of their heats and the feature. Up front there wasn't much racing going on. Lots of fast cars and good driving, but I've been spoiled by the ASCS fields. Last week at the Devil's Bowl former ASCS national champion Tim Crawley had to take a provisional to get into the A main. Last night I could have made the A main and I've never even sat in a sprint car. The best of the best? Possibly. Maybe even probably if you are just talking about the cars and the drivers, but certainly not if you are talking about the racing.

They also ran late models last night. Good cars, good drivers but again only 19 cars. The winner was supposed to start on the outside of row two but when the guy in front of him lost a left rear wheel on the parade lap, he moved up and let the entire 25 laps and was never challenged. There was some racing going on from the middle to the back of the field, but that was about it.

I hadn't planned on this race or the ASCS next weekend at I-30 and kind of made the choice to go to this one since it was a little closer and I hadn't been to a WoO race lately. Now I remember why. I think I'm going to squeeze I-30 in since they already have 112 sprint cars signed up and the most I've seen before is 71 at Cowtown a couple of weeks ago. Low car counts don't ensure bad races and big car counts don't always have great races, but the odds are always in favor of big car counts. Like pavement sprints, the WoO in my opinion needs to work on their car counts. If that means going to 360s, then that's ok with me. Those cars last night were fast, but I couldn't tell that they were any faster than the 360s. I don't know if the non WoO guys were running their 360s or just didn't have enough of a 410, but they didn't stink up the show. 12 more like them would have made it a lot better.

I am still glad I went as I had never seen Rahmer run and he's been one of my favorites for years.

[Jonr]

I am not sure what your expectations were, but 410 sprint car racing has been dead in Texas for years. I am not sure where you were expecting the cars from? Besides the Outlaws that traveled in, where did you expect the cars to come from? No 410's at Cowtown, None at Devil's Bowl, None at OKC. I think the closest 410 track in Knoxville which is 11 hours away.

I will agree with you that an Outlaw show with 18 cars would be a disappointing car count.

[Lucky161]

Originally Posted by Jonr I am not sure what your expectations were, but 410 sprint car racing has been dead in Texas for years. I am not sure where you were expecting the cars from? Besides the Outlaws that traveled in, where did you expect the cars to come from? No 410's at Cowtown, None at Devil's Bowl, None at OKC. I think the closest 410 track in Knoxville which is 11 hours away. I will agree with you that an Outlaw show with 18 cars would be a disappointing car count.

I can't honestly say what I expected in the way of car count. I can remember WoO races at the Devils Bowl with E mains. And I know that the WoO always relied on a large contingent of local cars to boost their car counts. And I don't know the specifics but neither TMS dirt track or the Devils Bowl have run the WoO for years. Kind of ironic in view of the fact that the WoO started here.

The good news is the ASCS puts on great shows in my area and the SST put on good shows.

[Charles Nungester]

PSST. The NW series don't get it either. There are more 360 motors out there than 410s these days and with ASCS's rules for them and payouts

[petey]

Like I said over at brand-x I'm not surprised by the car count. They barely drew enough cars for the feature back in April. With a race like the Trophy Cup going on Tulare that weekend, that would keep some guys away. And I figure some guys were saving their stuff for the STN's this coming weekend.

That whole area of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi is hurting 410 wise. I remember hearing about the WoO race at Pike Co. Mississippi in 2002, it only drew 19 cars so this problem is nothing around there.

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester PSST. The NW series don't get it either. There are more 360 motors out there than 410s these days and with ASCS's rules for them and payouts

When they're in Washington. WoO can draw from Skagit, Oregon, and California and still get 30+. In Texas, they couldn't draw a firehouse. No 410s in Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma, anywhere in that region.